Mr. Michael Kelly:

We should not lose sight of the fact that the concern about this is shared, for example, by health employers within the HSE, the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. A number of things are happening around sorting out the new entrants salary scale. A process is under way to look at the more recent entrants and see what needs to be done. Another thing is offering permanent contracts to new graduates. A key need is to recruit everyone coming out of training into the Irish healthcare system and, one hopes, retain them. We were trying to envisage the additional pieces that could be put in place to reinforce that if we succeeded in attracting these young graduates in the first instance and in retaining them. We put forward a number of additional steps that are designed to reinforce the good things that are happening. We hope that if they are acted upon, the combined impact will be to make the Irish healthcare system a more attractive and enjoyable place in which for professionals to work.